1 year as an apprentice-The Review

It’s that time of year where many of us reflect and look back to take stock of the year gone by. I don’t think anyone will disagree that 2020 as an experience was solid ‘1/5 stars, would-not-recommend-where-is-the-skip-button-on-this-thing?!’ nightmare material for most people. 

Thankfully, not so much for me. The trials and challenges I had this year were almost entirely of my own making. When I followed through on my career change from consultant to ‘tradie’ late 2019, I had no real clue what 2020 had in store. I would probably still have made the same choice, which is more of a testament to how much I had bottomed out than a reflection of how ‘courageous’ I am.

It’s been a while since I last wrote about my apprentice experience. And what a rollercoaster ride it’s been! A redirect from carpentry to cabinetry, one not-so-great job lost, one totally cool job gained and trade school being postponed so many times that even I lost the plot. I might have learned a thing or two and found some answers to hard questions along the way. Disclaimer: this is not your typical LinkedIn ‘look-at-how-totally-awesome-my-everything-is’ kind of write-up, so if that’s what you’re after, best stop reading now.

Did I make the right choice?

It wasn’t so much a choice as a necessary change. In that sense it feels right. I feel incredibly fortunate to have landed with Bombora Furniture in Torquay doing work that I like, in a beautiful environment, learning from a team of people who are both skilled and friendly. I have a lot of good and worthwhile things to look forward to. If my learning curve continues upwards like it has, I’ll be a skilled tradie in two to three years and will be one step closer to my ultimate goal of teaching new skills to disadvantaged people in regional Australia one day.

Would I do it again?

No. If for any weird and unforeseen reason I’d lose this apprenticeship, I’d likely go back to some kind of advisory work. The persistent feelings of incompetence, uncertainty, insecurity and being the least skilled person in the room are at times so overwhelming and almost physically painful that I sometimes wonder if it’s worth it. Well, at least I’ve learned a lot about myself, even if most of it is not pleasant or uplifting. And yes, it won’t kill me, but will it make me stronger? Or just stranger?

If you’re also thinking of changing careers, I highly recommend that you take as much time as you need to carefully consider all angles before moving forward. This is a decision you’ll have to make all by yourself and a path you mostly walk alone. It won’t be easy, but nothing worth doing ever is.

Here are 7 experiences that I thought worth sharing.

1.      What you did and who you were quickly becomes irrelevant

Especially early on, I found myself talking a lot about what I used to do in Change, what I got up to, what work situations and experiences I had, that sort of thing. After a while I got pretty annoyed with myself because it’s like talking about your ex to your new girlfriend on the first, second and third date. I now realise that was just me letting go of a persona that I created from certain parts of me over the past six years. My hands can only take instructions from one persona at a time, so it really was time to retire that version of me. He seemed tired and a bit over it all anyway. Changing careers allows you to create a new persona of your best parts to bring to work, if you’re willing to give it time to emerge and don’t just keep filling it up with who you used to be. Lesson learned: There’s no need to fast-track the ‘getting to know me’ process, just let them make up their own mind and judge you by your actions over time.

2.      Prepare to feel incompetent and insecure most days

I truly love the work I do now, but thoroughly dislike being an apprentice. I thought I’d have this humble, grateful and open mindset, that I’d be happy to learn and experience new things, that every day would feel like I am building towards something. Yeah, nah... I spend most days getting in my own way, all the while feeling both annoyed, insecure and incompetent because I am not allowed do certain things, feel like people are watching my every move, get the simplest things wrong, and don’t understand things as they were intended when explained. It’s not humbling, it’s humiliating and tells me my ego is more fragile than I’d like to admit. It sucks. But I chose this, so it’s up to me to change my response to the situation, not the other way around. Lesson learned: THIS is probably what people (unwittingly?) really mean when they say that it’s sooo brave of me to change careers.

3.      Have a story ready on the ‘why’ of your career change

Lots of people change careers later in life, but the (crazy) ones doing it voluntarily are still a small minority overall, so you’ll always be a bit of a curious novelty for others. I am not great at explaining things on a good day and often end up waving my hands around and making weird analogies. After 12 months I’ve told the story of my career change ‘why’ so many times, I now have it down to: “ I didn’t like what I was doing as an organisational consultant any more, always wanted to work with my hands and figured I’d give the trades a try. One year later, here I am.” That seems to satisfy most people and works well enough for job interviews and motivation letters too.

Lesson 1 learned: having an explainer story saves time, provides context and makes people relate to your experience. Lesson 2 learned: literally no one has said to me: “But consultancy is such a fun and fulfilling thing to spend your time and life on!

4.      The money is what the money is

$45,000, that’s what it is in year 1, about $60,000 in year 3. That’s it. And it seems about right. You have no skill, no pace, need help constantly, interrupt the flow of others and really can’t add much value other than doing some maintenance, simple tasks and cleaning. To put things into perspective, you’re still getting paid as much a QUALIFIED disability support worker or junior social worker. Yes, taking a $75-100,000 pay cut takes some time to adjust to, but it’s certainly possible, depending on what you are prepared to give up or go without. I have near-zero responsibility for anything, one (!) 20-minute meeting a week, no deadlines to speak of and a healthy (be it dusty) workplace with a great view and team, that allows me to make new mistakes every day to learn from. Is that worth $100,000? It is to me and fits the choices my partner and I made earlier in life. Lesson reaffirmed: Some people are so poor, all they have is money.

5.      You’ll learn most things in reverse

I’ve always liked processes and finding out how things work. Cabinet making is like LEGO, but with timber. And very sharp tools. And saw dust. Okay, it’s nothing like LEGO, but the principle is the same. You have a picture of the end result on the box/drawing and then you figure out the steps in between to get there from a set of building blocks/timber boards. One of my jobs is to oil and polish the finished products my colleagues make. This teaches me to ‘see with my hands’, notice joint types, pick up on ways to create features, solve problems and read timber (that’s a thing…). Without those basics, I wouldn’t know what to look for, what to do or where to begin even if I had the drawings and unlimited time, but seeing and ‘finishing’ the end result at least gives me a frame of reference for what’s possible. Lesson learned: Sometimes backwards is the only way forward.

6.      Finding an apprenticeship is the worst part

Tradies are notorious for not showing up on time, not returning calls, rescheduling and changing plans at the last minute. From the inside, I now understand that often there are good reasons for these things happening. But from my previous life, I also know that a 1-line text or 30 second voicemail message makes a big difference in keeping people on-side. Then again, I’ve met some truly wonderful and inspiring people during my job search. There are businesses out there who are willing to give a mature age career changer a go, some even prefer to work with mature agers!

Unfortunately, the job application process is just like in Change and equally soul crushing in its apparent indifference and evident opportunism. You can be as philosophical about it as you want, but getting only six replies (all rejections) to 37 applications is not a great experience for most people. Age discrimination, illegal wage practices, unsafe tasks and downright dangerous situations, it’s still happening in 2020. I am sure my experience is not unique and maybe even more positive than for others. Despite all that application effort, I ended up finding my first job through a LinkedIn connection and my second through my TAFE-teacher.

Frustratingly, it was the impression I made on my referrers and their willingness to vouch for me, that made the difference, not my CV, my motivation or my experience. Understanding that this is how things still work is just so frustrating. Why even bother to get qualified, right? In the end it still seems to come down to who and not what you know. Lesson learned: Don’t take it personal, they don’t know you as a person, stay with it and eventually you’ll find something that fits well enough. It takes luck, persistence and flexibility, but you’ll get there. Keep looking for a place that makes you feel valued.

7.      TAFE is not great (so far)

Teachers going missing, classes getting dropped, wait times for using equipment, unclear and incomplete instructions, faulty technology and quite literally the worst back-office administrative processes I have ever seen. None of this was in the brochure. I should have known what I was in for and run for the door when during induction one of the course managers said: “Welcome to the VU family!” COVID messed things up scheduling-wise and I get that, but you’d think that 6-8 months would be enough to come up with a plan or at least a clue. No? What’s that? It’s even worse in other places?! I am not sure that is even possible, but okay… Good thing my teachers are skilled, friendly and actually good at teaching or it’d just be a paid-for painful and unpleasant chore.  Lesson learned: The TAFE system is seriously broken and no amount of social media happy posting can fix that. But it’s the only way to get qualified, so try to focus on the good bits.

I hope this write-up paints a realistic picture of what it’s like to be a mature age apprentice for anyone considering that path. Most days are good, some are great, some are sh*t, such is life. I’ll write some more later, right now kitchens need building and floors need sweeping!